Machine for gathering ground strewn articles

ABSTRACT

A machine for removing articles strewn on a tract of ground generally consisting of a wheel unit; a support frame mounted on the wheel unit, having means for advancing the machine along the tract of ground; an endless conveyor mounted on the support frame, having means to gather articles deposited on the tract of ground and a flight extending from a front end disposed adjacent ground level, upwardly and rearwardly to an elevated rear end; a receptacle mountable on the support frame, positioned to receive articles gathered by the gathering means, carried upwardly and rearwardly on the conveyor and discharged therein; a moldboard disposed forwardly of a lower front end of the conveyor, pivotally connected to the support frame; and means for driving the conveyor.

This invention relates to a machine for gathering articles strewn on theground, such as trash, debris and the like.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Machines commonly used to gather trash, debris and other articles off ofthe ground generally have consisted of a wheel unit, a support framemounted on the wheel unit, having a drawbar for towing the machine by atractor or other vehicle, a receptacle mounted on the support frame andan endless conveyor assembly for picking up articles off of the ground,conveying them rearwardly and depositing them in the mounted receptaclewhich is adapted to be emptied at a selected site. Often, such machinesare used to clean sandy beaches strewn with trash and debris. Suchmachines, however, have been found to be less than entirely effective inproviding an economically manufactured machine capable of readilygathering articles strewn on the ground, usually with a certain amountof earth particles, separating the articles to be collected from theearth particles and then capturing all of the collected articles in areceptacle. A further problem with such prior art machines has been indisposing of the collected articles.

It thus is the principal object of the present invention to provide animproved machine for gathering articles strewn on the ground which iscomparatively inexpensive to manufacture and operate, efficient anoperation and highly effective in gathering articles off of the ground.It is a further object of the present invention to provide such animproved machine which functions to cleanly separate such earthparticles from the articles being gathered, and capturing such gatheredarticles in a receptacle for further disposition. A still further objectof the present invention is to provide such an improved machine whichwill accommodate commonly used, stand alone refuse bins, equipped withwheels, which may be removably mounted on such machines and filled withtrash or debris gathered by such machines, readily removed from suchmachines and positioned at selected sites, wheeled to vicinities oftrash collecting vehicles and emptied into such vehicles.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The objects of the present invention are achieved by providing a machinegenerally consisting of a wheel unit; a support means mounted on thewheel unit, having means for advancing the machine along a tract ofground strewn with articles such as trash, debris and the like; anendless conveyor mounted on the support frame, having means forgathering articles strewn on the ground and a flight extending from afront end disposed adjacent ground level, upwardly and rearwardly to anelevated rear end; a receptacle mountable on the support frame,positioned to receive articles gathered by the gathering means, carriedupwardly and rearwardly on the conveyor and discharged therein; amoldboard disposed forwardly of the lower front end of the conveyor,pivotally connected to the support frame; and means for operating theconveyor. Preferably, the support frame is provided with supportsurfaces on which a receptacle may be removably seated, positioning anupper end thereof opening upwardly and forwardly for receiving articlesadvanced upwardly and rearwardly on a flight of such conveyor, the beltof such conveyor is perforated to permit earth particles to be siftedand thus returned to the ground, such belt is provided with a set oftines operable to impale or otherwise engage articles to gather articlesoff of the ground, advance them upwardly and rearwardly and deposit themin the receptacle mounted on the machine, the frame is provided with aset of stationary tines disposed adjacent the upper, rear end of theconveyor which cooperates with the set of tines provided on the conveyorto comb out debris carried on the conveyor and cause such articles to bedeposited into the container, and such frame further is provided with arotary brush cooperable with a flight of the conveyor to cause earthparticles and particularly wet earth particles to be sifted through theconveyor. It further is preferred that the moldboard of such machine beprovided with a skid surface or a set of wheels allowing it to movealong the ground, and a counterweight to permit such skid surface orwheels to readily displace vertically to negotiate variations in theterrain being traversed by the machine.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a machine embodying the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged, perspective view of a portion of the belt of theendless conveyor assembly of the machine shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the machine shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a rear elevational view of the machine shown in FIGS. 1 and 3;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged, partial perspective view of a portion of themachine shown in FIGS. 1, 3 and 4, illustrating the manner ofcooperation of the conveyor and frame supported tines in detachingarticles carried by the conveyor tines;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a portion of the lower, front end of themachine shown in FIGS. 1, 3 and 4, illustrating the moldboard thereof;

FIG. 7 is a view similar to the view shown in FIG. 6, illustrating theuse of a set of wheels in lieu of a skid member; and

FIG. 8 is a partial, side elevational view of the conveyor assemblyshown in FIGS. 1, 3 and 4, further illustrating the use of a rotarybrush cooperating with an upper flight of such conveyor assembly.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

Referring to the drawings, there is illustrated a machine 10 operablefor gathering articles such as trash, debris and the like strewn on theground, and depositing such articles in a pair of bins 11 removablymounted thereon. Each of such bins is provided with a pair of side walls12 and 13 and front and rear walls 14 and 15 defining an upper open end,a bottom wall 16, a wheel unit 17 disposed adjacent the rear and bottomwalls thereof and a lid 18 hinged to the upper end of the rear wall andpivotal between an open position as shown in FIG. 1 and a positioncovering the upper open end of the bin. Such type of bin is commonlyused by refuse collection companies, distributed to residences andcommercial establishments for depositing refuse, transportable fromresidential and commercial sites to collection sites and adapted to beemptied into refuse collection vehicles, periodically transported alongdefined routes in municipalities.

Machine 10 generally includes a wheel unit 20, a support frame 21, aconveyor assembly 22, a moldboard 23 and an engine 24. The wheel unitconsists of a conventional set of wheels mounted on an axle. The supportframe is supported on the wheel unit and includes a pair of side walls25 and 26, an upper wall 27 and a lower wall 28 spaced from upper wall27 and interconnecting the side walls to define a space in which theconveyor assembly is mounted. The rear end of the support frame on whicha pair of bins 11 may be removably mounted includes a crossbeam member29 providing a surface on which bottom wall 16 of the bins may bepositioned, and a crossbeam 30 and a set of plates 31 secured to theunderside of wall member 28, providing surfaces on which the front wallsof bins mounted on the machine may be positioned. As best seen in FIG.1, the surfaces of members 29, 30 and 31 are arranged so that binsmounted on the rear end of the machine will be tilted forwardly havingthe upper ends thereof opening upwardly and forwardly, communicatingwith the space in which the conveyor assembly is mounted. The upperrearwardly facing edges 25 a and 26 a of the side walls of the frame areof a length and are disposed at an angle to permit the lids 18 of a pairof bins 11 mounted on the rear end of the machine to be pivoted upwardlyand forwardly and rest on such edges to provide an essentially closedchannel from the spaced occupied by the conveyor assembly to theinteriors of such bins.

Conveyor assembly 22 includes a lower, transversely disposed shaft 40journaled in bearing blocks mounted on the side walls of the frame,having a cylindrical roller 41 mounted thereon, and an upper,transversely disposed shaft 42 journaled in bearing blocks mounted onthe side walls of the frame having a cylindrical roller 43 mountedthereon and also a sprocket 44. Trained on rollers 41 and 43 is aconveyor belt 45 which is of a chain link or woven constructionproviding a plurality of openings therethrough. Mounted on the outerside of such belt is a plurality of longitudinally spaced, transverselydisposed tine assemblies 46. As best shown in FIG. 2, each of suchassemblies includes a base strip 47 and a retainer strip 48 secured tothe belt and a plurality of tine units secured between such strips,spaced along such strips and having portions projecting substantiallyperpendicularly from belt 45. Each of such tine units consists of ametal wire bent at a center thereof to form a U-shaped center portion49, having the leg segments of such U-shaped portion contoured intospiral, spring portions 50 and 51 and having the spiral spring portionscontinuing as free ends 52 and 53 disposed substantial tangentially tothe spiral spring portions 50 and 51. Each of the base strips isdisposed on the inner side of the conveyor belt, each of the retainerstrips is mounted on the outer side of the conveyor belt in alignmentwith a base strip, each of the U-shaped portions of the tine units isinterposed between the conveyor belt and a retainer strip and the tinesare fixed in position by a set of bolts extending through openings ineach retainer strip and openings in the conveyor belt and threaded intothe base strip.

Moldboard 23 includes a pair of arm sections 60, 60, each pivotallymounted on an end portion of shaft 40 and having a front end portion 60a and a rearwardly extending portion 60 b. Interconnecting front endportions 60 a, 60 a is a transversely disposed section 61 having arearwardly facing, curved surface 61 a partially disposed radiallyrelative to the axis of shaft 40. Projecting forwardly from the lowerend of transverse member 61 is a curved section 62 providing a curved,bottom skid surface 62 a, and an upper plate section 63 connecting theforward end of plate section 62 to the upper end of transverse section61. Curved surface 61 a is spaced from the axis of shaft 40 a sufficientdistance to permit the ends of tines 46 to extend to yet clear suchsurface. Formed on each rearwardly extending portion 60 b of each armsection is a counterweight 60 c which counterbalances the front end ofthe moldboard to permit it to float, displace vertically and thus permitskid surface 62 a to engage the ground and negotiate different terrain.

Motor 24 is an internal combustion engine having sufficient horsepowerto drive the conveyor assembly. It is provided with an output shaft 71which transmits drive to an intermediate shaft 72 by means of a drivesprocket 73, a driven sprocket 74 and a drive train 75. An adjustableidler sprocket 76 mounted on a shaft 79 further is provided to removeany slack in drive chain 75. Drive from intermediate shaft 72 toconveyor shaft 42 is provided by a sprocket 78 mounted on shaft 72, adrive chain 79 and sprocket 43 mounted on shaft 42. An idler sprocket 80mounted on a shaft 81 further is provided for taking up any slack indrive chain 79.

The machine as described is intended to be towed by a tractor or anothersuitable vehicle. For this purpose, there is provided a drawbar 90pivotally connected to the front end of the support frame and having aconventional attachment means at the free end thereof for detachablysecuring the drawbar to the prime mover. To adjust the level of thefront end of the frame and particularly the moldboard mounted on theframe is a cylinder assembly 91 including a cylinder member having thebase end thereof pivotally connected to upper wall 27 and a rod member93 pivotally connected to a bracket provided on the drawbar. It will beappreciated that when the drawbar is connected to a towing vehicle andcylinder assembly 91 is operated, the front end of the support frame maybe displaced vertically to position the moldboard at an appropriatelevel.

The machine as described particularly is adapted to accommodate the useof trash bins 11 which are commonly and widely used to accumulate trashand refuse at residential and commercial facilities and transfer them tocurbsides for emptying into refuse collection vehicles. In theembodiment described, two of such trash bins may be mounted on the rearend of the machine.

In the use of the machine to perhaps clean a tract of ground along asandy beach, the machine is first attached to a tractor or other towingvehicle, a pair of trash bins 11 are manually lifted and positioned onthe rear end of the machine as shown in FIG. 1 with the lids thereofeither in the open position as shown in FIG. 1 or pivoted forwardly toengage side wall edges 25 a and 26 a, and cylinder assembly 91 isoperated to set the moldboard at a proper level to permit the moldboardto skim along the ground as the tines of the conveyor assembly traversealong a circular path at the lower end of the assembly to comb throughthe sandy ground and either impale or otherwise engage trash or debrisstrewn on the ground and transport such articles upwardly and rearwardlyalong the upper flight of the conveyor belt. The motor is then startedto drive the conveyor belt. The speed of the belt may be set to run at aconstant speed or a control mechanism positioned at the operator'sstation on the towing vehicle may be used to vary such speed. Once thelevel of the moldboard has been adjusted and the engine is operating atthe desired speed, the towing vehicle may be operated to tow the machineover the tract of ground to be cleaned. As the machine is advanced, thelower end of the moldboard will skid over the ground and displacevertically to negotiate the terrain, and the tines traversing about thelower end of the conveyor assembly will penetrate a short distance intothe ground to impale or otherwise engage and carry articles along theground surface upwardly and rearwardly to be discharged into the trashbins at the rear end of the machine as such tines traverse about theupper end of the conveyor assembly. As the tines move along the upperflight of the conveyor belt, sand and other small particles picked up bythe tines or articles being gathered will be caused to fall through theopenings in the conveyor belt and return to the ground. To assure theremoval and discharge of articles picked up by the tines, a set ofstationary tines 100 is provided on the upper end of wall 28 whichextend upwardly and forwardly into the path of tines 46, as shown inFIG. 5, to comb any articles lodged on or otherwise attached to movabletines 46. When the trash bins have been filled, the machine may then betowed to firmer ground where the bins may be manually removed from themachine and left at a pickup location or wheeled to such an area wherethey may be emptied into a refuse collection vehicle in the conventionalmanner.

In lieu of a skid member provided on the moldboard for negotiating theterrain over which the machine is towed, the moldboard may be providedwith a set of wheels as shown in FIG. 7. In addition, where the groundmay be wet such as on a beach a rotary brush as shown in FIG. 8 may beemployed to assure the expulsion of such particles through the openingsin the conveyor belt. Such rotary brush assembly would include a pair ofsupport arms 110, 110 pivotally mounted on a transversely disposed shaft111 journaled in bearing blocks mounted on the side walls of the supportframe above the upper flight of the conveyor belt, a transverselydisposed shaft 112 journaled in bearing blocks disposed on the free endsof arm members 110, 110 and a rotary brush 113 mounted on shaft 112. Thepivotal connection of the arm members thereof allows the brush todisplace relative to the upper flight of the conveyor to negotiate anyarticles being conveyed by the belt and clumps of earth particles to bebroken up and discharged through the openings in the conveyor belt. Sucha rotary brush may be optionally used with a conveyor belt with orwithout a set of tines as described. In arrangements employing suchtines, the flexibility of the tines and the bristles of the brush wouldpermit the tines to easily pass through the brush.

In addition to allowing the moldboard to float about the pivotal axisthereof, means may be provided to fix the angular displacement of themoldboard relative to the pivotal axis thereof. Such an arrangement mayinclude a radial arm section having a slot spaced radially relative tothe pivotal axis thereof, and a bolt having a threaded shank portionextending through such slot and threaded into a threaded hole in asupport frame component and a head portion engageable with the armsection.

Because of the simplicity of the machine as described and the use ofconventional trash bins widely available, the manufacturing cost of themachine is comparatively inexpensive. Furthermore, the dozing functionof the moldboard, the scooping capabilities of the tines of the conveyorassembly, the combing action of the stationary tines cooperating withthe moving tines and possibly the use of a rotary brush on the upperflight of the conveyor belt assures a complete and efficient gatheringand collecting of trash, debris and other articles from a tract ofground sought to be cleaned, and the return to the ground of any earthparticles entrained in the gathering process.

From the foregoing detailed description, it will be evident that thereare a number of changes, adaptations and modifications of the presentinvention that come within the province of those having ordinary skillin the art to which the present invention pertains. However, it isintended that all such variations not departing from the spirit of theinvention be considered as within the scope thereof as limited solely bythe following claims.

1-38. (canceled)
 39. An assembly for a machine operable for gatheringarticles along a tract of ground, comprising: an endless conveyormountable on a support frame of said machine, having means for gatheringarticles disposed on the ground and a flight conveying such articles toa receptacle; and a rotary brush supportable on said support framecooperable with said flight for removing certain particles therefrom.40. An assembly according to claim 39 wherein said conveyor is providedwith a perforated belt and said rotary brush is operable to cause saidparticles to be sifted through said belt.
 41. An assembly according toclaim 39 wherein said conveyor includes an endless belt having a set oftines operable for extracting said articles from the ground.
 42. Anassembly according to claim 39 wherein the axis of rotation of saidrotary brush is sufficiently spaced from said flight to permit the endsof the bristles thereof to skim the surface of said flight.
 43. Anassembly according to claim 39 wherein said conveyor is provided with aperforated belt and a set of tines operable to gather articles from theground and convey them along said flight and the axis of rotation ofsaid rotary brush is sufficiently spaced from said flight to permit theends of the bristles thereof to skim the surface of said flight and saidtines to pass through said bristles whereby said particles are caused topass through said belt and thus be sifted out of the material beingconveyed and the articles gathered by said tines are caused to passthrough said bristles to be conveyed to and discharged with saidreceptacle.
 44. An assembly according to claim 41 wherein said tines arearranged in rows spaced longitudinally and disposed transversely on saidbelt.
 45. An assembly according to claim 39 including a pair of armmembers pivotally supported on said support frame, and wherein saidrotary brush is mounted on a shaft journaled in said arm members wherebysaid rotary brush may be displaced relative to said flight to permitarticles incapable of passing through the bristles thereof to displacesaid brush and pass thereby. 46-48. (canceled)